Suspicious Moles

I'm a 30 year old white male.  I have two moles on my back that are of particular concern.  One is dark brown, symmetrical, but slightly raised.  The other I've had for at least 10 years, but for some reason I just started to notice it.  It's large (just shy of 1 cm or so), with varying colors...it's lighter tan that gets a bit darker top to bottom.  It certainly fits C and D of the criteria...not to mention the ugly duckling theory.  A and B are a bit sketchy though.  It's almost perfectly round.  The border I'm not sure about, it seems to have a darker border than the center of the mole, and maybe looks like it went splat...i.e. it looks maybe a little fuzzy around the edge.  It's flat and you really can't tell its there simply by running your fingers over it.

I've had several bad sunburns on my back throughout my childhood and teenage years...because I was stubborn and dumb.

I'm just getting nervous because I've found several lymph nodes that are swollen (one on the left side by my collar bone, one further up just under my ear, and one of the bigger ones under my jaw).  Aside from the latter gland, the other two aren't even the size of a pea.

Earlier this year, I lost 25 or so pounds and was diagnosed with IBS.  I'm concerned that IBS was a distraction from what was really going on.  I'm not concerned about cancer in my digestive tract, a colonoscopy, EGD, and CT scans were performed about 5 months ago, so I'm sure I have IBS.  But I've noticed headaches recently, and I never get those.  I'm concerned that the swollen lymph nodes in my neck indicate a spreading disease.  I have nothing to back that up at the moment...I have a Dermatologist appointment tomorrow.

How much risk do I have at this point?(Knowing full-well you can't diagnose a thing over the internet.)  Should the swollen nodes be worrisome, or am I being hyper-sensitive to every little thing based on my anxiety?

Thank you.

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

Neither mole sounds dangerous.  I do not think the lumps you are calling lymph nodes represent metastatic cancer.  The only way to diagnose moles is to have someone look at them in person.  Please arrange to do this as soon as you can.  Then you can stop worrying.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[lrb243]

A related discussion, benign mole grows back was started.

[angelc2190]

A related discussion, Lump under very starnge mole was started.